Hierarchy in America

Religious commitment, support for the military and free-market capitalism, and aversion to the welfare system, homosexuality and ‘big government’ are all attitudes widely shared among conservative Americans. Apparently unrelated, these views reflect an unrecognized but real ideological embrace of hierarchical understandings: to wit, power comes from above, exchange relations with powerful entities are the means for bettering one's circumstances and such relations are predicated on differences among parties. God, military and political leaders and the captains of industry all constitute personalized nodes of power to whom subordinating oneself offers chances for advancement. Government, by way of contrast, constitutes an impersonal force liable only to take someone's liberty and money and give no return. Adherence to hierarchical assumptions explains support for illiberal leaders in the US and beyond.     

America after Iraq

America won an asymmetric war in Iraq and lost an asymmetric peace. Translating material power advantage into favourable political outcomes has been a challenge for great powers down the ages—what makes this bridge even more difficult to cross today is the raised expectations on the part of liberal publics about the moral purpose of US‐led interventions. In this sense, Iraq is part of the explanation for why influential liberals believe there is a ‘crisis’ in America's world leadership. ‘America after Iraq’ subjects this claim to analytical scrutiny—in particular it addresses whether Iraq was simply a chapter in a longer book detailing American power and purpose in the post‐9/11 world? In answering this question the article is drawn to consider conceptual debates about a shift in the international system from anarchy to hierarchy with the US as the hegemonic power. While it rejects strong versions of the hierarchy thesis that imply the Washington is the new Rome, it is nevertheless drawn to an understanding of a hierarchical form of ordering where the US oscillates between a hegemonic role and an imperial outlaw. Seen through this lens, the Iraq War was an intervention that happened because it could, and not because it was just or necessary. Public opinion and the weakness of domestic institutions are also critical factors in explaining how it was possible for a previously status‐quo oriented hegemonic power to act recklessly and put the rules and institutions of international society under strain.     

America in denial

The recent publication of State of denial, by veteran Washington journalist Bob Woodward, created firestorm of controversy over its central claim that the Bush administration is in denial over the severity of the unfolding crisis in Iraq. But one of the most revealing aspects of the book is its portrayal of the American policymaking process as dysfunctional, incompetent and beset by personal rivalries and ambitions. Woodward's account of the Bush administration's handling of Iraq reveals that bureaucratic necrosis, cronyism and internecine warfare between the Pentagon and the State Department are now the signature features of the American government. Thus an alternative reading of Woodward's book suggests that American people are no longer in denial about Iraq, but have yet to reckon with the deeper problem: the deterioration of their foreign policy establishment.     

Cartographical collections in America

ABSTRACT

The importance of maps in the construction of national territories has already received much attention from scholars; however, the discussion has mostly centred around the creation of political boundaries in emerging regions or states. Ethnic cartography, on the other hand, remains little studied, despite the fact that it also produced powerful symbolic meanings, advanced science and became a tool for various political ideologies. This article introduces the role that the mapping of ethnic territories played in political discourse in nineteenth-century Russia.     

Tibetologists Visit North America

OnNovember13,1996,agroupofChina'sTibetologistsreacheddayvisittotheUnitedStatesandMexico.MembersofthegroupincludePuncogCering,presidentoftheTibetAcademyofSocialSciences;DainzinJigmei,associateresearchfel1owwiththeTibetEducationalResearchInstitute;Bemataota…     

行走拉美

正在遥远的太平洋彼岸,静卧着从诞生伊始就在苦难中艰难前行的拉丁美洲,那里开拓了最初的玛雅文明,印证了殖民主义的丑恶,缔造了光辉的印加文化;那里有漫长的安第斯山脉,有举世无双的伊瓜苏瀑布,有浩浩荡荡的亚马孙河……那一片静谧而广袤的土地,就如热带雨林一般,充满诱惑,令人心驰神往。     

Woman in Nineteenth-Century America

The political use of Woman as a universal category, transcending social divisions, has fallen into disrepute. Yet it is necessary, in looking at gender history, to understand not just its obfuscations but its sources and political effects. The essay proposes an intellectual and political history of the uses of the term Woman and a social history of the heterogeneous mixtures of women from different social groups who seized the term and gave it force. Discussing recent scholarship on white and Afro-American women, Stansell argues for the importance of moments of extravagant universalising to the history of women in politics.     

在美国“扫街”

<正>对于东方人来说,西方世界的一切都似乎那么新奇、有趣。在欧美,单是在大街上走,就足以让你眼花缭乱。但如果跟旅行团走马观花会让"色友"着急上火、难以尽兴。笔者有幸在美国芝加哥留学一年,休息日就可以带上"长枪短炮"在大街上"扫"一天,过足了"清洁工"的瘾,实乃大快特快之事。